Experiential Learning Week Lesson Plans

Title Art as a Scientific Exploration Teacher Natalie Varga

Date October 11, 12, 13 Time 3 days

Overview Choosing a science question, researching it and creating an acrylic painting on canvas that
represents what they learned. Then we will be having a gallery walk and exhibit.

Materials - Variety of acrylic paint - Pencils

- Paint brushes (palette knife) - Index card ‘plaques’
- Canvases - Assignment sheet
- Blank paper - Written example sheet
- Chromebooks - Early finisher activities (dice rolls, pick a topic,
- Fact / Fiction sources sheet cross words, word searches, colouring pages, etc.)

GLO DES1010 Sketch, Draw & Model

2 - use manual sketching, drawing and modelling materials and tools effectively
3 - present a portfolio-ready drawing, rendering or model that the student produced
5 - apply consistent and appropriate work station routines
6 - demonstrate basic competencies

SLO - 2.1 recognize appropriate sketching, drawing and modelling tools

- 2.2 demonstrate correct use and implementation of appropriate sketching, drawing and
modelling tools and mediums; e.g., T-square, scales, set squares, pencil, chalk, coloured
marker, ink, paint, paper, plastic, wood, foam
- 2.3 use and maintain tools and materials in a safe and appropriate manner

- 3.1 present sketches, drawings and/or models for assessment

- 5.1 demonstrate good health and safety practices; e.g., posture, positioning of hardware and
furniture
- 5.2 demonstrate security for hardware, software, supplies and personal work

- 6.1 demonstrate fundamental skills to:

- 6.1.1 communicate
- 6.1.2 manage information
- 6.1.4 think and solve problems
- 6.2 demonstrate personal management skills to:
- 6.2.1 demonstrate positive attitudes and behaviours
- 6.2.2 be responsible
- 6.2.3 be adaptable
- 6.2.4 learn continuously
- 6.2.5 work safely

Outcomes I can use the appropriate tools correctly to create a work of art.
I can practice good health and safety measures for myself and my equipment.
I can communicate a scientific idea through a work of art.

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 Day 1
Morning 1 Activity 1 Attendance Question
8:32 - 10:01 5 mins - What’s your favourite thing to paint?
88 mins
Activity 2 Go over what we will be doing the next few days
5 mins - Today
- Go to blades park
- Pick scientific question
- Research question - answer 1 paragraph
- Rough copy visual
- Tomorrow
- Painting techniques
- Finish rough copy
- Start painting
- Thursday
- Finish painting
- Gallery set up - elementary students will come to our gallery

Activity 3 Final Project

10-15 - Hand out assignment sheet and go through it with the students.
mins - Students will choose a scientific question that they would like to answer
and then create a painting that represents it.
- Show my example “how do antidepressants work?” - canvas
painting

Activity 4 Blades park

60 mins - Explain to students that to get our scientific minds flowing we are going to
take a walk to blades park, walk around for a while, and then come back
with at least 1 scientific question that we can share with the class.
- When we get back have students share their questions and create a list on
the board that the students can reference if they would like to for their
project.
- Students will then have their 5 minute break

Morning 2 Activity 1 Research Questions - credible sources

10:06 - 11:35 20-25 - Let students know that they will have until lunch to choose their question
88 mins mins and start researching it.
- Short lecture on credible sources - hand out fact/fiction checklist to go
through with them - can use as a resource for their project.
- Explain the written section of the project in more depth - show example
and go through it with students.
- Before students can start on their rough sketch they must have their answer
paragraph done and check it with me.
- Have students grab their Chromebooks and start their research.

Activity 2 Research Time

60 mins - Circulate while students are working
- Make sure they get their question done by lunch at least.
- Can play music if students like.

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Afternoon 1 Activity 1 Research Time
12:20 - 1:48 80 mins - Circulate while students are working
88 mins - Make sure they get their paragraph answer done by the end of the day.
- Can play music if students like.

Afternoon 2 Activity 1 Rough Copy

1:53 - 3:21 80 mins - Explain this a bit more in-depth in case students finish their answer
88 mins paragraph.

Research time
- Circulate while students are working
- Make sure they get their paragraph answer done by the end of the day.
- Can play music if students like.

Observations - Students were really interested in the concept of picking their own scientific question to
research. Having the open-endedness of being able to choose any topic that they like
really lit up the class.
- At lunch I heard 2 of the girls talking to some friends about their session in the hallway
and they were explaining the scientific question and said that it was really fun so I think
that is a good indicator of engagement.
- Students worked for an hour straight painting, drawing, and writing with no interruption
and were surprised when I told them there were only 10 minutes left until the end of
school.

Reflection Morning
- I have 18 students so it's a really nice sized group
- The walk to blades park went really well and they came up with a lot of interesting
questions.
- When we came back they all had so many interesting questions to share it was
awesome.
- I think the sources review was a good idea because a lot of the students said that a good
source was Wikipedia - I just said yes but the links at the bottom are where the
information is.
- A few of the older students finished their rough copy by lunch so I think I will do the
painting workshop after lunch so that they can get started on their canvases.
- I think tomorrow I should have a few artist displays to showcase how we can use art in
real life. I think at the university for ArtNow they had those 40 minute artist talks so
maybe I could show them one of those tomorrow.
- Overall it was a really nice calm morning and it went really well.

Afternoon
- I did the painting techniques and it went way better than I thought it was going to. It
took them a bit of time to get set up with the paint and brushes and everything, but once
they were set up it went really well and they seemed really interested in the techniques.
- By the end of the day everyone was started on their canvases painting.
- We listened to music all class and they were having a lot of fun singing along.
- Everyone started on their painting by the end of the day so tomorrow I think some
students will finish tomorrow. I have the extra art activities for when they’re done but I
think to start tomorrow I will show the art talk painting artist and then we will do an art

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 game - we all go in a circle and each person starts with a paper and draws for 60
seconds before swapping and then it goes back to the original person and they can paint
it if they finish early.
- I think I overestimated how much time it would take for them to complete everything
because we have basically 6 hours every day. So adding the above extra activities will
help with this.

Day 2
Morning 1 Activity 1 Attendance Question
8:32 - 10:01 5 mins - What question did you choose to research?
88 mins
Activity 2 Go over what we will be doing the next few days
5 mins - Today
- Painting techniques
- Finish rough copy
- Start painting
- Tomorrow
- Finish painting
- Gallery set up - elementary students will come to our gallery

Activity 3 Painting Techniques

70 mins - Explain art room expectations
- Clean up supplies, lab sink use, paint and brushes at the back
counter, etc.
- Have all students get a blank piece of paper, water cup, papertowel, palette
knife (plastic knife), paintbrush, and 1 colour of paint and white paint.
(have yours ready)
- For each technique have the students see yours and then create their own
examples of it - they can divide their paper up into 8 sections
1) Dry brush - use a dry brush for a vibrant colour stroke with rough /
scratchy edges
2) Washing - add a bit of water to your colour to make colours more
translucent
3) Stippling - pointalism but with paint
4) Splattering - wet brush and flick it at paper (caerfully)
5) Dabbing - use papertowel to apply paint light and fast (good for leaves)
6) Combing - Palette knife - scraping, lines, texture
7) Detailing - use a small amount of water to shape your brush into a point to
use for small detail
8) Underpainting - use the white paint to create a background to layer upon

Morning 2 Activity 1 Rough Copy

10:06 - 11:35 80 mins - Go over rough copy expectations again
88 mins - Circulate while students are working
- Make sure they get their rough copy done by lunch. - Must show me before

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 they can start their final copy.
- Can play music if students like.

Afternoon 1 Activity 1 Start painting

12:20 - 1:48 80 mins - Circulate while students are working
88 mins - Make sure they know that they will only have tomorrow morning to finish
their painting and connection to the question paragraph before the gallery.
- Can play music if students like.

Afternoon 2 Activity 1 Painting

1:53 - 3:21 80 mins - Circulate while students are working
88 mins - Make sure they know that they will only have tomorrow morning to finish
their painting and connection to the question paragraph before the gallery.
- Can play music if students like.

Day 2 - Revised
Morning 1 Activity 1 Attendance Question
8:32 - 10:01 5 mins - What is your favourite thing about your artwork so far?
88 mins
Activity 2 Go over what we will be doing the next few days
5 mins - Today
- Art talk
- Art game
- Painting
- Tomorrow
- Finish painting
- Gallery set up - elementary students will come to our gallery

Activity 3 Art Talk

90 mins - Explain the work of Gerard Richter - slides
- Explain a bit about Cecily Brown
- Cecily Brown on Gerhard Richter | Artists on Artworks
- Explain a bit about Thomas Struth
- Thomas Struth on Gerhard Richter | Artists on Artwork
- Have a short discussion where students can voice their opinions of the
video. Ask students “what makes an artist famous?”

Morning 2 Activity 1 Drawing Game

10:06 - 11:35 60 mins - Hand out students a piece of paper and have them write their name on it,
88 mins draw for 60 seconds then pass their paper to the next person, when it goes
back to the original person we will share their favourite thing about it.
- Students will keep this artwork and when they are done with their canvas
painting they will paint this.
- If students finish early with their canvases then they can pick a green art
card and paint that.

Afternoon 1 Activity 1 Start painting

12:20 - 1:48 80 mins - Circulate while students are working

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88 mins - Make sure they know that they will only have tomorrow morning to finish
their painting and connection to the question paragraph before the gallery.
- Can play music if students like.

Afternoon 2 Activity 1 Painting

1:53 - 3:21 80 mins - Circulate while students are working
88 mins - Make sure they know that they will only have tomorrow morning to finish
their painting and connection to the question paragraph before the gallery.
- Can play music if students like.

Observations - They were less engaged with the videos than I expected but they were still decently
engaged when I asked them to tell me about the paintings that they showed.
- They were super excited to get started on their paintings and wanted to start right away.
Even the 2 that finished wanted to start because they wanted to make their own
paintings.
- A lot of the students stayed in the art room at lunch to work on their paintings so that
was awesome.
- Students continued to paint all afternoon. Several finished and chose to do another
painting.

Reflection Morning
- The videos went really well, they were all tired because it was morning but they still
answered questions and discussions.
- I think if I could find an artist that did scientific painting that would be better for this.
- They loved the drawing art game so much that we did it again but instead of 60 second
intervals we did 15 seconds. It was a great exercise to compare how the amount of time
you put into a drawing changes the quality of the drawing.
- I think I did a good job setting up the painting yesterday because today they all knew
what to do and where to go and it was seamless.
- Overall the painting went really well and they are really engaged and excited about it.

Afternoon
- I thought it would be a good idea to paint a leftover canvas with a background and then
have all the students put a handprint on it and then sign it later as a nice painting to start
the exhibition. It was going really well until a few students decided they were going to
put handprints of paint on each other and their lockers. So when they returned to the
classroom I made a general announcement to the class that paint should only be on the
canvases, not on lockers, sink taps, or each other, and if it has gotten somewhere else it
needs to be cleaned up right now. Then all three of them looked guilty and went and
cleaned their lockers without another word. I guess next time I need to be more clear
and specify where paint should and should not be applied.
- Otherwise, that idea went really good and I think it will be a nice addition to the gallery.
- Some of the people that finished I had create posters for the art gallery to show where it
is and advertise it around the school.
- Other people that finished worked on other paintings or painted their art game drawing
from earlier.
- Tomorrow I think I will have it so that students that need to finish their painting can do
that and the rest will do another art game before we need to start setting up for the
gallery.

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 - While everyone was working we listened to music for most of it but around 2 they
asked if we could watch a movie instead so I put on Alladin for them to watch.

Day 3 (Revised)
Morning 1 Activity 1 Attendance Question
8:32 - 10:01 5 mins - Who is your favourite artist?
88 mins
Activity 2 Go over what we will be doing today
5 mins - Today
- Finish painting/art games
- Gallery set up - elementary students will come to our gallery

Activity 3 Painting
70 mins - Circulate while students are working
- Make sure they know that they will only have until 11 to finish their
painting and connection to the question paragraph before the gallery.
- Can play music if students like.

Art Games - If students have finished their paintings

- As a group I will hand out the fall colouring pages to each student in a
circle. Each student will then get their own colour of pencil crayon. Each
student will have 60 seconds to colour with their colour before passing the
sheet around the circle.
- Individual
- Jack O'Lantern dice roll
- Andy warhol inspired dice roll
- Halloween colouring pages
- Art word searches
- Art crosswords
- Pick a card and paint

Morning 2 Activity 1 Painting

10:06 - 11:35 50-60 - Circulate while students are working
88 mins mins - Make sure they know that they will only have until 11 to finish their
painting and connection to the question paragraph before the gallery.
- Can play music if students like.

Art Games - If students have finished their paintings

- As a group I will hand out the fall colouring pages to each student in a
circle. Each student will then get their own colour of pencil crayon. Each
student will have 60 seconds to colour with their colour before passing the
sheet around the circle.
- Individual
- Jack O'Lantern dice roll
- Andy warhol inspired dice roll
- Halloween colouring pages

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 - Art word searches
- Art crosswords
- Pick a card and paint

Activity 2 Gallery set up

20-30 - Hand out index cards and have students fill it out as their artists plaque
mins - Title of work
- Materials and canvas size
- Name and date
- Have students then arrange the desks around the edges of the classroom
and have them set up their canvases with their title and name “plaque” as
our gallery.

Afternoon 1 Activity 1 Class presentations

12:20 - 1:48 60 mins - We will go around the class and each student will give a 3-5 minute
88 mins presentation about their painting and the question it answers.

Activity 2 Gallery walk

20 mins - Remind students that while the younger students are coming to our gallery
they should be role models to them and answer any questions that they
might have. Students will be standing by their painting or circulating and
answering questions of viewers.
- K-6 students will be coming to view our gallery.

Afternoon 2 Activity 1 Gallery walk

1:53 - 3:21 60 mins - K-6 students will be coming to view our gallery.
88 mins
Activity 2 Clean up / Conclusion
15-20 - Students will clean up the gallery and put desks back where they go.
mins - Let students know that they can leave their paintings here to display for a
while, or they can take them home.
- Students will then fill out an exit slip stick

Observations - As soon as they got to school the people that were still painting asked to get started right
away.
- They were so excited to set up the art gallery
- Students had so much fun at the gallery, talking to the other students, answering the
smaller kids' questions, showing off their work, etc.

Reflection Morning
- Students liked the colouring art game but not as much as the drawing version I think.
- It was a really calm morning, everyone just picked their own early finisher worksheet or
finished their paintings.
- One of the other teachers needed a few kids to paint the school logos for the volleyball
tournament so a few did that which was really cool.
- They were all super excited to set up the art gallery and wanted everything to be set up
just so.
- Overall it was just a really nice and calm morning.

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Afternoon
- The presentations went great and everyone actually spent at least 3 minutes talking
about their artwork. I think because they were so proud of it.
- We had kindergarten, grades 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, outdoor education, and spreadsheets ELW’s all
come in to look at our gallery. The admin and secretaries and caretakers were also all
invited and most of them came.
- It was amazing to see all of the engagement with the different age groups and how they
connected over the art.
- They really wanted to take their paintings home but I persuaded them to let me hang
them up in the school for at least 2 weeks. So after school we hung them all up around
the hallways and it looked so good.
- Everyone that came said they did such a good job and honestly I was just so happy it
went so well and all their paintings turned out so good. This will definitely be
something that I remember for a long time.

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